The Morning After... Another State Championship!

1) What Clemson and South Carolina fans witnessed Saturday night was complete and utter domination. One team was focused, talented and eager to put a whippin' on its rival. The other just wanted to get out of dodge as soon as possible. The Gamecocks could not match up with the Tigers man-for-man.

(Photo courtesy Clemson Athletics)

2) Deshaun Watson likely finishes his career in Death Valley the way he started it. In Watson's first career home start, he threw six TD passes against North Carolina. Saturday night, he tossed six against South Carolina. The young man has had a career worthy of every award and record he's earned. I've been critical of him and I don't apologize for that. There are still flaws in his game, but at this time, it's just nitpicking at things I wish were perfect. Well, Deshaun Watson ain't perfect. Nobody is or ever will be. But Watson is as close to perfect as Clemson's ever had at the QB position.

3) A year ago, Mike Williams stood on the sidelines with a neck brace. Williams might want to get his back checked out this time as Gamecock defenders dangled off him all night. He made NFL-type catches and showed by Mel Kiper has him as the No. 1 WR in the upcoming NFL Draft. His first TD was a thing of beauty. His second was unreal. Williams carried the Carolina defender eight yards into the end zone. You have to see it to understand how awesome of a highlight that was. Williams was a man among boys.

🔥😲🏈💪 South Carolina defenders couldn't bring down Clemson's Mike Williams#Clemson #SouthCarolina #SCARvsCLEM pic.twitter.com/qJZq5JVeKR

— The Fanatics View (@thefanaticsview) November 27, 2016

4) Incredible defensive performance by the Tigers to boot. USC freshman QB Jake Bentley looked like he belonged in high school. He finished 7-of-17 for 41 yards and an interception. Bentley only played one half, supposedly injuring his knee. Will Muschamp said there was nothing wrong with him other than he wasn't comfortable pushing off throwing, but Muschamp didn't want to put him back in the game. The Gamecocks had 218 yards, were 4-for-14 on third downs, and had just 14 first downs (Clemson had 41). Again, there was very little South Carolina could do to find any mismatches on the field. The Tigers were just better all around.

5) I'm going to do a little bragging here, and also set the record straight. I've heard nothing but a bunch of whiny sour grapes coming out of the mouths of Gamecocks - coaches, players and fans. You got beat. Deal with it. Stop trying to act like you didn't do any trash talking all week. Stop trying to act like you didn't rub it in during your five-game winning streak. Stop trying to act like your players are perfect little angels and Clemson's are the scum of the earth.

Clemson's players didn't say much this week and let their play on the field do the talking. They very well could have said a lot, considering they'd won two in a row in the series. After the game, a third straight win, they didn't hold back. And good for them. They're right. South Carolina has been, is, and always will be the little brother in this state. Clemson does run the state. The 56-7 thrashing makes that pretty clear. As does the 68-42-4 series record. Get over it.

6) Michigan and Ohio State might have been a good game that went to double-overtime, but color me unimpressed. It was 17-17 at the end of regulation. Neither offense looked competent. Ohio State's kicker missed two chipshot field goals. Michigan fumbled at the one-yardline and threw two costly INTs - one returned for a TD and one that set up a short TD drive. Ohio State was 3-of-16 on third downs. Michigan had 91 rushing yards (2.1 yards per rush). I realize it was a huge game with big ramifications, but neither team was impressive. The rest of the nation will tell you it was a classic - and it was - and that both teams are deserving of high rankings and praise. That's great. Just not from this guy.

7) Rivalry weekend produced a lot of thrills and upsets that no one saw coming. NC State knocked off North Carolina, Missouri over Arkansas, Air Force over Boise State, Texas Tech over Baylor, and Arizona over Arizona State ... All of those took place before Saturday. Then, there was Georgia Tech over Georgia, Kentucky over Louisville, Mississippi State over Ole Miss, Oregon State over Oregon and Vandy over Tennessee. Gotta love it.

8) The Heisman race is back open. Here are the serious contenders: Lamar Jackson, Louisville; Deshaun Watson, Clemson; Dalvin Cook, Florida State; Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma; Dede Westbrook, Oklahoma. That's it. Jackson has stumbled his past two games to allow the other contenders to close the gap. I still think he will be the winner, but it won't be as large of a margin as previously thought.

9) The ACC finished 3-1 over the SEC for the second straight season in in-state rivalries. Over the past three seasons, the ACC teams (Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisville) are a combined 10-2 against South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky. ... Every Power 5 conference has a championship game next weekend - four actual championship games (ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC) and one by luck (Big 12). ... The Playoff Committee ranking comes out Tuesday and I will warn everyone now: Michigan will be ranked No. 4 this week. The Committee isn't likely to drop Michigan behind Washington at this point because the overall body of work favors the Wolverines. And a double-overtime road loss to the No. 2 team in the country doesn't do much to warrant a big drop anyway. However, conference championships are not factored in this week. After this coming Saturday, they will be and that's where Michigan (and Ohio State) will likely drop if Clemson and Washington win their conferences.

10) After Virginia Tech's 52-10 over Virginia, Hokies defensive end Ken Ekanem said, "This was a statement game, to tell Clemson that we're coming." Bring it, turkeys. Beat Virginia Tech.

-BtW